A 67-year-old Concord man -- free on bail on domestic violence charges involving his estranged spouse -- stabbed her to death, set her home in San Francisco on fire and then committed suicide yesterday.

Just after 1 a.m. yesterday, Detsichado Roldan stabbed Evelyn Sinio, 61, following an argument at her Excelsior district home, police said.

After killing Sinio, Roldan poured flammable liquid around the first floor of the home the couple had shared for 12 years on the 400 block of Somerset Street. Sinio's body was later found in the back yard of the two-story home, fire officials said.

After setting the fire, Roldan drove to San Pablo, but his daughter would not let him in her San Pablo Dam Road condominium, according to investigators. Another relative found him hanging by a rope on the front porch after 2 a.m.

"This is not only a tragedy for this city -- this is a tragedy that is likely to occur again because all these cases are potentially lethal cases," said San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Susan Breall.

Free on $26,500 bail, Roldan was charged with 14 counts of domestic violence against Sinio and her family. He was to appear in Municipal Court today to set a date for a preliminary hearing.

Roldan had been ordered by the court to stay away from Sinio following a November 9 incident in which police said he pulled a .38- caliber handgun, brandished a knife and threatened to kill Sinio, her 80-year-old mother, Rosario Obrigoso, and Sinio's daughter, Eleanor Castillo.

After that incident, Roldan was charged with domestic violence, terrorist threats, brandishing a gun, brandishing a knife, assault with a deadly weapon and pulling out a telephone cord when Sinio tried to call 911.

He was arraigned before Municipal Court Judge John Conway, but had already posted bail by that time and remained free.

His relatively low bail, which conformed to a formula used by the court, was criticized yesterday.

"Had the bail schedule been higher to begin with, he would never have bailed out in the first place," said Breall, who has started a drive to raise the bail in such cases.

Conway said the entire situation was tragic. "Unfortunately, there are too many of these cases, and they have much the same fact pattern," he said.

However, Susan Rutberg, who acted as Roldan's public defender, said there were no "early warning signs" that problems might arise. "He was a 67-year-old man with no prior criminal history," said Rutberg, who met with Roldan last week after taking the case over earlier this month. He had abided by the stay-away order, and "there was never any indication of any contact," she said.

Breall said the District Attorney's Office will write a letter to the presiding judge to ask that the current bail formula for armed terrorist threats be raised from $2,500 per offense to $15,000 or more.

"This is the kind of case, unfortunately and tragically, that we see every day in court," Breall said. "Just because there is no prior record, doesn't mean the cases aren't potentially lethal. This should be a wake-up call to everyone involved."

Breall praised prosecutor Liz Aguilar-Tarchi for aggressively pursuing the case even though Sinio had been a reluctant witness.

Roldan had been a longtime worker at a Safeway before his retirement, Rutberg said. He had lived with Sinio since 1985 and had given her the home he torched yesterday.

Eight relatives of Sinio also lived in the house and were forced to flee in the blaze, said police Inspector Holly Pera.